


Chemical Bonding

by orphan_account



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: F/F, Ha Sooyoung is bad at Feelings, Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:35:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23286388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Sooyoung is a scientist who's always used to working alone on projects and has done it for years, until her bosses force her to start a project with another scientist that she's never talked to before.
Relationships: Ha Sooyoung | Yves/Kim Jiwoo | Chuu
Kudos: 58





	Chemical Bonding

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!! I originally wrote this as a thread fic on Twitter and wanted to post it on here too. It's based off of this [photo](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EQXIp5EXkAYsjmJ?format=jpg&name=medium) from a So What fansign. I hope you enjoy!!

Sooyoung was always used to working alone in the laboratory, being regarded as one of the smartest scientists at her workplace. Her bosses knew that if she needed assistance, that she’d ask for it. Her coworkers weren’t her biggest fan, as she was always brushing them off for her own work, never leaving any time to interact with them. She barely knew their names in the first place, always looking at their name tag if they ever needed to speak. 

One day, her bosses had a meeting with her, assigning her a project that required a lot of time… and a partner. Sooyoung had tried telling them over the course of the meeting that she was perfectly capable of doing the research and work by herself. Her bosses refused to give in, telling her that the higher ups required the project to be with two people or more, and that they were being kind by only giving Sooyoung a partner when they would have wanted at least a team of four working on this. Sooyoung sighed in defeat and accepted the project, dreading that she had to soon work alongside another scientist again - something she hadn’t done since she got out of grad school.

Within two days of the meeting, she found herself meeting her new partner. The girl with dark hair was standing right outside of her laboratory, holding a coffee in her right hand. Squinting at her name tag, she learned that her new partner’s name was Jiwoo. She had no idea if she was new or not, but she proceeded to introduce herself and let Jiwoo into her laboratory. Sooyoung wanted to get straight to work after exchanging simple introductions, but Jiwoo was insistent on getting to know her new coworker better.

“I’ve been working under this company for about three years now, but I’m usually on the third floor instead of the fifth. I was really surprised and excited when they called me to work with you, since it’s just a known thing with everyone here that you work alone,” Jiwoo rambled on while sporting a sweet smile. 

Sooyoung could only nod. “Yeah, I haven’t really had a partner in a while, but I’m excited! It’s a new experience and I’m excited to work with you. Also feel free to call me unnie,” she says, hoping that her lie won’t get noticed. She internally sighs in relief once she sees Jiwoo flash her another bright smile. “Anyways, come along, I’ll show you where everything is and where you can make yourself at home here.” She let Jiwoo take up one of the vacant desks on the far end of the laboratory since she was going to be here for a while. 

“Ah… your lab unnie… it’s so nice. Not that the ones downstairs aren’t nice, but this is just super nice…” Jiwoo says, stumbling on her words. All Sooyoung can do is smile at her new partner’s speechlessness. 

“You can keep looking around, I’m going to read the papers we were given. Since we start tomorrow, you can just go home and relax today, since our work is going to be really rigourous,” Sooyoung states. Jiwoo just nods in response and starts to quietly look around. She leaves Sooyoung alone, not wanting to bother her, but already noticed that Sooyoung doesn’t seem to be the biggest fan of small talk. She vowed to herself after she bid farewell to Sooyoung for the day that they will be friends by the end of their four months of research together. 

Within the first week of working together, Jiwoo tried asking Sooyoung if she wanted to eat lunch with her or grab some coffee. Every proposal came with some sort of excuse, something along the lines of “Oh no, I have to make sure the lab is clean” or “I have to go home early, I promised my mom I would call her before midnight tonight.” Jiwoo didn’t give up though, she would clean up any mess she made with the chemicals they had to use for the research immediately and safely, sparing Sooyoung the duty of cleaning up. Even with all the cleaning up she would do to spare Sooyoung some time, Sooyoung still avoided the idea of hanging with coworkers outside of work. A month in and Jiwoo finally gave up and stopped pestering her to hang out.

Sooyoung had noticed that Jiwoo started growing a bit distant, instead of asking her about her day or how her life’s been going, she’s just met with a smile and “Let’s get to work unnie!” instead. As she’s been the one avoiding Jiwoo, she doesn’t allow herself to get upset about this new prospect and decides to shove it to the side. The two of them have been working in peace for a month and she wasn’t about to fuck that up - she’s never had a coworker who’s been so reliable before. They just work in comfortable silence for another month before the first major accident happens. 

In the company, Sooyoung is known for doing everything with perfection, never getting into any sort of accident. So when she accidentally spills one of the chemicals onto her lab coat and the floor, she naturally starts freaking out. Jiwoo went out to grab coffees for them, insisting that both of them needed one because this shift had been going on longer than sixteen hours. Her mind is telling her to go clean up her mess, but her body starts reacting first and she starts crying on the spot, letting all the stress, anxiety, and every other feeling she had bottled up out into the open. In the midst of her crying, she didn’t hear the door open until she heard Jiwoo’s loud gasp. Jiwoo quickly put on her safety material after placing the coffees on the desk and came to inspect Sooyoung’s situation. Instead of judging or laughing at Sooyoung who was just standing and crying, she kept insisting that it’s all going to be okay and to let it out while she cleaned up the mess. Jiwoo scrubbed away the mess on the floor, helped to throw out the lab coat, and told Sooyoung to go down the hall to take a shower. 

Before Sooyoung had left, Jiwoo had grabbed her hand, letting her know that everything is okay and that it was fine to open up once in a while. Sooyoung just nodded, trying to hold back the tears again as she left to go take a shower. While she was in the shower, she just let everything out in the form of tears, feeling the most free she’s been in a while. After calming down and stepping out of the shower, she’s surprised to see that Jiwoo had locked the lab for the day and was about to question her when Jiwoo cut her off. “Unnie, we’ve been working so hard for two months. And after today, I think it’s okay to go home and take a break. I hope you’re going to go home to sleep…” Jiwoo says with a whisper. Sooyoung realizes that she’s been too cold to the poor girl and decides to do something that she definitely would not have done a month ago.

“Jiwoo… What if we got lunch? Then I went home to sleep? I think that would make me feel better,” Sooyoung said with a soft smile on her face. Jiwoo just stared at her, with the galaxies in her eyes, out of shock. She opened her mouth to talk, but then quickly closed it and nodded her head in agreement. Sooyoung then grabbed her wrist and started dragging her to the elevator to take Jiwoo to her favorite ramen place. 

Sooyoung ended up taking Jiwoo’s advice about opening up and did just that over ramen. She told Jiwoo about how she’s been a lone scientist for years because she’s had unreliable coworkers before and on top of that, her love life’s been stagnant due to the fact that her first love had left her to pursue sciences in the US and it took her awhile to even process that over the amount of work she does daily. Jiwoo just nods and hums in response, letting Sooyoung talk. Sooyoung finds it that it’s the most relaxed she’s been in years. Just talking to Jiwoo and hearing that someone is interested in her life and not just for her reputation. After the accident and how kind Jiwoo was, instead of embarrassing her to get ahead like another scientist probably would have done, she makes it her goal to talk to Jiwoo rather than brushing her off to repay her for the kindness she gave to her today. 

Over the course of the next two months, Jiwoo and Sooyoung end up getting closer than Sooyoung would have ever thought when they first started working together. She found out the beautiful woman behind Jiwoo, finding out that she abandoned her family’s dream of keeping the family business running to become a scientist. She found out that during her free time she goes and reads books to the local orphanage and hangs out with them, that she wouldn’t mind being a teacher at some point because she loves interacting with kids and spreading her happiness to them. Over the course of the two months, Sooyoung found herself falling for Jiwoo, something that scared her. But she told herself to stop worrying, that her act of kindness from the day of the accident should be clue enough that Jiwoo is a genuine sweetheart. 

The last day of their research was finally complete and the both of them were satisfied with the results of their research. Sooyoung had suggested to Jiwoo that the both of them should go out to a high class restaurant to celebrate and Jiwoo agreed, jumping up in the air a little out of excitement. They handed in their endless hours of research to their bosses then parted ways to get ready for their dinner. 

Out of nervousness, Sooyoung ended up arriving at the restaurant before Jiwoo did.. She was going to ask Jiwoo if she could take her out on a date and was incredibly nervous, as the last time she asked someone on a date, it was her first girlfriend, Jinsol, and that was years ago. Jiwoo shows up, looking like the most gorgeous woman that Sooyoung has ever seen and proceeds to flash her signature smile at Sooyoung. The two talk for a bit while the waiter goes to get them their drinks and Sooyoung asks Jiwoo if she can ask a serious question. “I wanted to ask if you would want to go out on a date with me? I know I’m like super awkward, but I truly do like yo-“ and Sooyoung finds herself being cut off by Jiwoo. 

“Unnie, I thought this was our first date. I guess I got the signals wrong when you brought up the idea of going to a five star restaurant, but yes. I know what you’re about to say and I really like you too, and I would love to go on a date with you,” Jiwoo says laughing. All Sooyoung could do was laugh and be happy.


End file.
